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Site Flipping : A Question on Technique

by bizideas
15 replies
Hey All,

I have a simple method inquiry for you professional site flippers on WF.
Is it better to build a website with all the web 2.0 support packages
to go with it or to sell the segments individually?

For example:
Let's theoretically say I develop a website called hobbies4fun.com.
I then proceed with putting together a blog on a popular blogging network. I bookmark it on stumble & digg, do a squidoo lens or two, some EZAs, facebook it, join and promote it on similar forums, cafe press the related art work, cross market, youtube it, and then plug all the adsense & affiliate pieces I can muster, etcetera, etc., etc. (whew!)

Maybe I'll throw in some additional SEO, maybe not.

Note: I don't "half do" anything so let's assume that I would make the individual modules attractive enough for a potential buyer. I say this because I do realize that people sell stand alone sites, lenses, and blogs just by themselves.

The point is, after X amount of time has passed should I try to flip the site
with all of the extra business "modules" included or is it generally more profitable to piecemeal everything Gordon Gekko style?

I mean how much more would it be worth, one way or the other?
Reportedly some sites sell as little as $200 and some as much as $20,000.

I've never flipped a site so I have been thinking about trying to do a few just to see if I can implement another income stream.

Thanks in advance for your insight.
#flipping #question #site #technique
  • Profile picture of the author SteelDanno
    I'm just going to skim here.

    - Would encourage you to monetize before you sell and be able to show proof of traffic and revenues
    - In the meantime, go to Sitepoint Marketplace forums and keep an eye on what is selling for what. The market will be your most valuable indicator on what kind of selling price you should list at and expect to get.
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    • Profile picture of the author Hamida Harland
      As SteelDanno said it's traffic and revenue you need to focus on - a site isn't worth much without those. I only ever offer the web 2.0 stuff as a bonus to encourage a BIN (I only offer them to the BIN buyer). From what I've seen, they don't increase the actual sale price of the site generally (unless of course they are driving a serious amount of traffic).
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  • Profile picture of the author dndoseller
    I my experience all that matters is the monthly revenue of the site. Just multiply it by 12 for the cost of the site. Of course there are exceptions.
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  • Profile picture of the author LordXenu
    i found flipping sites to be a waiting game. where you build a site now with the intent of selling it say, 6-12 months down the line to pull the maximum profit. proven monthly income,and a site with a healthy number of backlinks and generated pr pull the best return. even simple autoblogs. a site that might take me 1-2 hours to setup, if sat on for a good 6 months will often turn a couple hundred dollars for me. $100/hour isn't bad pay, but it takes that period of time where you sit and wait forit to gain that value. for me it started out as domain flipping, then i used the simple site setup to significantly up the value of said domains with some simple improvements. it all starts with knowing which domains hold potential in my opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizideas
    Originally Posted by SteelDanno View Post

    - Would encourage you to monetize before you sell and be able to show proof of traffic and revenues
    - In the meantime, go to Sitepoint Marketplace forums and keep an eye on what is selling for what. The market will be your most valuable indicator on what kind of selling price you should list at and expect to get.
    Okay, I've been spending time over at sitepoint. Where are the completed auctions or "archived auctions link"? I must be overlooking it.

    Originally Posted by Hamida Harland View Post

    I only ever offer the web 2.0 stuff as a bonus to encourage a BIN (I only offer them to the BIN buyer). From what I've seen, they don't increase the actual sale price of the site generally (unless of course they are driving a serious amount of traffic).
    Very interesting point. I wouldn't have thought that about the web 2.0. Especially since there is a clamouring for more value in a site.

    Originally Posted by LordXenu View Post

    i found flipping sites to be a waiting game. where you build a site now with the intent of selling it say, 6-12 months down the line to pull the maximum profit. proven monthly income,and a site with a healthy number of backlinks and generated pr pull the best return. even simple autoblogs. a site that might take me 1-2 hours to setup, if sat on for a good 6 months will often turn a couple hundred dollars for me. $100/hour isn't bad pay, but it takes that period of time where you sit and wait forit to gain that value. for me it started out as domain flipping, then i used the simple site setup to significantly up the value of said domains with some simple improvements. it all starts with knowing which domains hold potential in my opinion.
    Six months for two hundred dollars? Are you trying to discourage me from taking this on? Just kidding.
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    I also found that adding web2.0 properites to the auction did nothing to increase the value. In fact, I sold a couple that came with Squidoo lenses and people didn't really want the lenses!

    P.S. You can see the completed auctions as grayed out but I don't think all of them show that way. Or, you can click the advanced search link on the upper right and change the listing status to completed, or won.
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    Gone Fishing
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  • Profile picture of the author Desmond Ong
    people actually care about your site designs, how profitable it is, site stats and traffic and that's it.

    added bonuses might come good if you are selling sites privately.
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetM39482
    Well, unless you're giving some really valuable bonuses, it won't increase the overall perceived value. The main value lies in the core package itself.

    But... to your question.

    There's scope for both models.

    Of course the second one, where you're offering a website with traffic and revenue will be worth more. That forms a good part of my biz model. There are people who are highly successful with the startup (without any traffic / rev) model, say for example Kate, Jay, Desmond, Diwi and a few others.

    If you don't mind going that extra mile, I'd recommend choosing the second option. It has worked pretty well for me, and flipping a few (3-4) websites that are a couple months old can rake a few grands every month.

    The difference in the price point is defined by traffic and revenue generally.
    Okay, I've been spending time over at sitepoint. Where are the completed auctions or "archived auctions link"? I must be overlooking it.
    Ain't any link, but if you've got a specific topic you're searching for you may use the Advanced search option, insert your keyword in the description, tick archived listings, change status to Won and search for 'em.

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    • Profile picture of the author bizideas
      Originally Posted by Swastik View Post

      Well, unless you're giving some really valuable bonuses, it won't increase the overall perceived value. The main value lies in the core package itself.

      Ain't any link, but if you've got a specific topic you're searching for you may use the Advanced search option, insert your keyword in the description, tick archived listings, change status to Won and search for 'em.
      There's a huge range of sites sold successfully. Some went for sub 100 dollars while one went for 60,000. I could definitely see the difference in production value and historical revenues.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
    You should include all the supporting web 2.0 pages you made that are providing the link juice that's responsible for your sites rankings.

    I sold a review site a while back for $9k that was making $800 per month. Included in this sale was over a dozen Squidoo, hubpages, social bookmark profiles etc. (All the accounts and content I created to build traffic/rankings for the site).

    Any smart buyer should want them. Otherwise I could have easily changed those links and the site would have dropped like a brick from the SERPs. You might get more money for it and it's the honest thing to do.

    If the buyer declines the web 2.0 accounts well then it's fair game to change those links.
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    • Profile picture of the author bizideas
      Originally Posted by Aaron Moser View Post

      You should include all the supporting web 2.0 pages you made that are providing the link juice that's responsible for your sites rankings.

      I sold a review site a while back for $9k that was making $800 per month. Included in this sale was over a dozen Squidoo, hubpages, social bookmark profiles etc. (All the accounts and content I created to build traffic/rankings for the site).

      Any smart buyer should want them. Otherwise I could have easily changed those links and the site would have dropped like a brick from the SERPs. You might get more money for it and it's the honest thing to do.

      If the buyer declines the web 2.0 accounts well then it's fair game to change those links.
      Thanks Aaron.
      I know that if I were the buyer, I'd certainly want every advantage I could get. My only concern is that I wouldn't want to waste my time by building everything up only to get offered just a couple hundred dollars in the end.
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  • Profile picture of the author gabibeowulf
    You can sell the site for 10x -12x monthly earnings.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis-White
    You need to focus on traffic and revenue, focus on marketing the site for 90 days and making xxx.xx and then sell for xx,xxx and then hire help to expand on that simple business model and keep it going....
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    • Profile picture of the author bizideas
      Originally Posted by Dennis-White View Post

      You need to focus on traffic and revenue, focus on marketing the site for 90 days and making xxx.xx and then sell for xx,xxx and then hire help to expand on that simple business model and keep it going....
      It seems that's largely the consensus here.
      Thanks a bunch.
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  • Profile picture of the author domaingamer
    I'd focus more on the Web 2.0 options for your own linkbuilding rather than as a bonus for the site you're selling. If you put in enough time and effort on the link building it will show as your site will have that much more revenue and get you a better valuation when it comes time to sell.
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